Boot or shoe heel.



R. S. AYRES.

BOOT 0R SHOE HEEL.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 3,1915.

l ,.@?U ,586.1. Patentei J 11116 25, 1918.

'1. it MTES, Uh BQOKJDTNE, BBMUHUSETTd.

hour on anon Janet.

To all whom it may coace 1 r I Be it known that l, Rrcnann S. Areas, acitizen of the United States, and resident of lBrookline, in the countyof Sufiolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement inBoot or Shoe Heels, of which the following description, 1n connectionwith the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like letters on thedrawmgs representing like parts.

y present invention is an improved heel for boots and shoes, made ofmoldable material and by a novel process,

. In the manufacture of boots and shoes, the standard type of heelemployed is made of a plurality of layers, glued or nailed together, orboth, and the trimmm, burnishmg, polishing, and finishing of such heelsinvolves many erations and a high de ee of skill. Heels or leather shoesof the st grades utilize a plurality of leather lifts or layers, securedtogether roughly, and are applied to the shoe in the rough state, andare then trimmed down by high speed cutting machlnes, After suchtrimming the heel must be finished by furtheroperations, such asaddltional cutting, bufing, inking, blacking, and burnishing. Usuallythe final fin sh 18 secured by means of hot wax. The building up ofheels with a large number of successive layers is objectionable becauseof the waste involved, labor required, as well as in many other ways,especially in the exorbitantly high cost when leather 18 used. And yetit has beennecessary to use leather to a considerable extent to secure aproper finish and a satisfactory artlcle. Heretofore, it has beenattempted to use composition heels of leather and cork, fiber heels.

and shellac, as well as wooden and rubber None of these prior efi'ortshave re sulted. in a suitable eel for high adl shoes, nor one whichcould be polishe and lid finished or wear as well as the standardleather heel. Even in the standard type of heels, the lifts wereconstantly apt to separate wear unevenly, and were easily damaged bywater.

have discovered that by utilizing leather scraps of all kinds andbeating up and mix- -ing the same with a suitable binder and preferablyalso with a proportion of some theap pulp capable of being united withthe same binder, that a very strong, light heel can be made which willcontain sufificient leather material to give a hard exteriorsurlllpechtlcatlon of JLetterr Patent.

' a lication anal June a, rear. semi it. are.

operations to a great degree.

face to' receive the blacking, burnishing which is so necessary and desirable in finishing shoe heels, and at the same time will wearing heelto be produced. Furthermore,

.such a composition heel may be molded to ency equal a standard leatherheel, with the further advantages of lightness, even-wearmg economy incost as well as economy in the operations of trimming, attaching, and

burnishin v In carryin out my present invention, ll

Patented dune Twill,

inking, and

enable an economical goodtron, and will thus largely e iminate wastecapabilities, moisture-proofness, and,

prefer to uti ize a considerable percentage of leather scraps,includingall sorts and kinds of leather,sole leather, upper leather, edgetrimmings, cutting-room. waste leather, leather-board or other leathersubstitutes, and the like. These scraps ofleather or leather and leathersubstitutes, are ut into a beater,such as an ordinary tu -beater used inpaper-making,and mixed with a small proportion of rosin or othersuitable binding agent, or I may add to these leather scraps aproportion of ulp, such as wood ul for example, and thoroughly mix botheat er scra s and the pulp and binder therewith. he proportions may bevaried for each particular type of work on hand. For example, in makingheels for mens heavy shoes a'larger proportion of leather scraps may beemployed, while for lighter women and childrens shoes a largerproport1on of pulp may be'utilized in making the heels. ll find thatapproximately 25% of leather is suitable for ordinary work, although llmay use as high as of leather scraps, to which a proportion ofapproximately 1% to 5% of rosin or other binder may be added. With themoldable material in its plastic state and thoroughly mixed to behomogeneous, the mixture is then dumped out of the beater into molds,and compressed therein. This pressing action not only shapes the pulp,but also squeezes out the Surplus water, (of which a considera' 1eamount may be employed) and forms the material into individual heels.Preferablyi T then subject each heel to a further an sired density,shape, and contour, although I also contemplate doing all this in thefirst vided with a leather or rubber lift during this action, which canbe compressed thereon, if desired, the moldable material beingin itsplastic state and with the rosin or binder as an active agent, servingto unite a leather or rubber lift firmly with the rest of the heel. .Anysuitable molds or apparatus may be employed in carrying out this processfor the manufacture of my i improved heel, such apparatus not beingherein illustrated.

Referring to the drawings,

Figure 1 is a perspectlve view of my improvedheel;

Fig. 2 being a view of the heel and leather or rubber lift added;

Fig. 3 being a cross sectional view of the complete heel shown in Fig.2; and

Fig. 4 is a side view, illustrating in fragmentary view a shoe with myimproved heel attached, showing the solidity, freedom from the liftlines, etc.

As illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2, my composition heel of leather scrapsand any pulp is molded with its top surface 1 preferably concavedsomewhat to fit more accurately the convexed heel seat of the shoe, andpreferably thus eliminate the use of the ordinary rand. Such a rand mustoften be added to the usual leather heelbuilt up of separate lifts andinvolves considerable expense,

so that the elimination of this feature is of importance in thepracticability of my heel. The heel breast 2 may be formed concave,fiat, orthopedic, or other form, and the exterior 3 rounded and beveledsubstantially in the style and contour desired, so as to largelyeliminate trimming. A leather or rubber lift 4; isfalso shown, which maybe added for the final molding, as above explained, or may be attachedthereon after the heel is otherwise afiixed, if desired. The completedheel 5 is illustrated attached to the upper 6 with its curved contour 7trimmed to final form desired, and inked, burnished, and finished inuniformity with the sole edge 8.

My improved heel thus made can be at tached with the usual heel nailingmachine, which will readily penetrate the composition, and the top liftmay be spanked thereon as usual, either in addition to the leather lift4 or directly on to the composition itself, if desired. My heel containsa suificient amount of leather to impart a uniform leather finish to theouter contour of the heel in every way equal to the finish secured by anall leather heel of successive lifts and at a mere fraction of theexpense. Furthermore a much lighter and equally resilient heel issecured by my process and one which will retail its finish indefinitely.Such a molded heel can be more easily trimmed, burnished, and inked bythe ordinary cutting, burnishing, and heel finishing machines now inuse, than a heel made of a plurality of lifts and will show no openingsaround its periphery, and be light, strong and serviceable, as Well asresilient, in use.

While I have described my improved heel as consisting, preferably, in amixture of leather scraps, leather-board, or the like, together with asmall quantity of binder or with other pulp and a binder capable ofsolidifying both leather and pulp material, it will be readilyunderstood that the roportions of leather and other pulp wil necessarilyvary, the important characteristic of my heel consisting in thesubstantial inclusion of a sufiicient amount of leather to enable aleather-like finish, resiliency, and wear-ability to be given thecompleted heel, including as high a percentage of leather pulp as 95% or98% together with the binder.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent is:

1. As an article of manufacture, an integral boot or shoe heelcomprising a substantially solid mass of pulp material molded andcompressed into a non-laminated heel approximately in its final finishform, being made of wear-resisting pulp material, including a suificientleather ingredient in finely divided particles to enable the outersurface of the molded heel to receive a leather-like polish and finish,and constituting a shoe heel capable of treatment with heel edgetrimming and finishing machines.

2. As an article of manufacture, a boot or shoe heel, consisting in asubstantially solid non-laminated mass of pulp material, made from'apre-determined mass of plastic pulp, and compressed into the form of acompleted boot or shoe heel, said pulp material including wood pulp,leather pulp, a suitable binder and a waterproofing substance.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification, inthe presence of two subscribing Witnesses.

, RICHARD s. AYRES. Wlitnesses:

O. D. Hocnnn, JAMES R. HODDER.

